Research Paper: Economic Espionage and Theft

Research Paper: Economic Espionage and Theft

You will select an issue and pick a senior official associated with that issue and prepare an issue paper for that official. The paper should discuss the pros and cons and implications of the issue and make recommendation(s) with rationale. Remember that you are thinking (and writing) as a well-informed manager and you should understand your official and his/her interests, constraints, and what he/she already knows about this issue so you do not waste your words on a simplistic explanatory paper.

This paper is limited to 8 double-spaced pages, excluding the cover sheet and References. Please cite sources within the body of the paper as necessary and provide a separate References page with complete citations, using correct APA format.

The paper should address how to manage the implementation of any recommendations.

The following are details of the scenario that you will use when you flesh out your paper.

Issue and Senior Official Chosen for this assignment

1. Economic Espionage and Theft

You are a staff assistant to the principal that you picked. You are asked to attend a meeting with your boss. Pan American International Bank has been penetrated electronically by a sophisticated opponent. The bank has “lost” hundreds of millions of dollars; no one knows how much because bank records have been altered. Bank IT security officials have also discovered that the bank has been used as a conduit to implant Trojan Horses in the computer systems of several of its major clients. These clients all appear to be high technology firms involved in leading edge research and development. Analysis of one Trojan Horse indicates that it surreptitiously collects and covertly forwards data to an IP address in the Netherlands. An investigation report by Dutch authorities report that this IP address forwards the data to an ever-changing set of other IP addresses in many countries. Attempts to patch the problem by bank IT security experts and consultants have failed. Pan American’s CEO is concerned about insolvency and liability. The National Deposit Insurance Corporation is investigating the bank’s books and has indicated that it may take over the bank. As the bank is one of Wall Street’s largest, with a broad international reach into Latin America and elsewhere, Senator Jones (D-NY), a member of both the Senate Finance Committee and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, is very concerned and asked for this meeting. Senator Jones has made no secret of his preference for the U.S. Government to step in and use its offensive cyber capabilities to counter and destroy the perpetrator(s). Senator Jones asks “What can be done? And why are we not doing it?” Your boss asks you to prepare an appropriate issue paper with recommendations.

preview of the answer…

The question to be tackled in this issue paper concerns espionage, financial system integrity, counter-espionage and Information Technology Security.

            The facts that form the basis of the ensuing analysis are the Pan American International Bank financial system’s breach. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been misappropriated through this scheme. The Information Technology specialists at the bank have also uncovered the fact that the bank’s mainframe has been used as a conduit through which Trojan horse viruses have been inserted in the client accounts. The true impact of these breaches is only understood with reference to the firms that have been breached. They are high end research and development organizations. These Trojan Horses collect data from the leading research and development organizations and send them to various IP addresses all over the globe, effectively, masking the location of the hackers.

            The Pan American International bank is one of the largest on Wall Street. Solving this attracts the Senate’s attention. The question that then besets this paper is to identify the means of reaction and how they can be actualized in line with…

APA 2356 words